Sora's Story "First Journey" and Kairi's Story "Wherever You Are" : Kingdom Hearts Series Character Files translations

The Kingdom Hearts Series Character Files has received more story translations. The translations this time are courtesy of Twitter users jesscan_LGB and keijithekit!

For those unaware, the Kingdom Hearts Series Character Files features over 200 characters from the entirety of the series thus far, with several short stories from Tomoco Kanemaki (the writer of the Kingdom Hearts light novels).

You can purchase the book for ¥3,080 (approx. $28.03) from the Square Enix e-Store directly or from AitaiKuji, who deliver official and exclusive Japanese pop culture products worldwide!

We have covered translations for:

The translations for Sora's Story from jesscan_LGB are below.

Quote

Sora's Story
"First Journey"

There isn’t much time left.
It’s too late, I can’t go back.
But don’t hurry.
Don’t be afraid.
The door is still closed.

Then I woke up from my dream.

A blue sky, a blue sea, a white sandy beach — This is Destiny Islands. Our home islands. After sitting up and letting out a big yawn, I flopped back down. That dream - what was that? I could feel my eyes starting to droop again when, suddenly, Kairi was staring at my face — “Whoa!”

Surprised, my body swung back up and Kairi spun around.

“Don’t startle me like that, Kairi!”

“Why am I not surprised. I figured you’d be slacking off, Sora.”

“I wasn’t! A black thing swallowed me up and I couldn’t breath and —!”

I was frantically explaining. I didn’t know whether or not I was explaining what happened in that dream clearly, but I hadn’t been slacking off — wait, had I been slacking off because I’d been sleeping?

“Are you still half-asleep?”

“It wasn’t a dream — or maybe it was…Ya see, I was in this strange world, it was a really weird place, and—”

“Yeah, yeah.” Kairi said in an exasperated way. She turned her back to me and started walking.

“Hey, Kairi. What was the town you lived in when you were little like?”

“I’ve said it before, I don’t remember.”

At that time, the only thing that I knew was that the town Kairi lived in when she was little wasn’t Destiny Islands. And though I was told that there was a town, it seemed that she didn’t remember anything about it in the slightest.

“I just thought that you might’ve remembered something.”

“Not a thing.”

I sit on the sandy beach, looking up at Kairi, who’s standing. “Don’t you want to go back?”

“Hmm…Well, I’m happy here —” Kairi stares out at the ocean, her face unreadable. It doesn’t look lonely or sad or even happy, but her face is expressing something. Kairi wears this expression often. “But, you know, I wouldn’t mind seeing it.”

“—I’d like to see it too.” Kairi looks back at me. I go on talking. “If there really is another world outside of this one out there, then, without a doubt, I want to see it before I die.”

Back then that was my greatest desire - to see that place that wasn’t ‘here’ - the town where Kairi was born.

“Then, let’s go together.” When Kairi said this, Riku’s voice called out:

“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” He’s carrying a log under his arm. “After all, seems I’m the only one serious about building this raft.”

I scramble to catch the log Riku flings my way. Seeing that, Kairi laughed.

“You were slacking off right along with him, weren’t you, Kairi!”

“Hehe, I’ve been found out.” Kairi laughed, arms open, shrugging her shoulders.

“Right then, you two, let’s finish up! Race ya there!”

“Huh?”

“What are you on about?”

“Ready, go!”

Despite Riku having just sat down next to me, Kairi signaled “Go!” Riku and I glanced at each other, stood up at nearly the exact same moment, and then took off running.

We dash straight through to the beach’s inlet.

Then it was evening. Kairi and I were sitting side-by-side on the Paopu Tree on the small island at the end of the pier. Riku was next to us, leaning up against it.

The sun was sinking below the horizon.

“If we go out there, beyond the sea, then the world that you came from will be out there too, right?” I asked Kairi, but the answer came from Riku.

“I don’t know — but we’ll never know if we don’t try.” Riku was looking out at the horizon as he said this. Then I asked Riku, because I honestly had no idea:

“How far do you think a raft can take us?”

“Who knows — if it’s a bust, we can just think of some other way.”

Even though Riku is just a year older than me, he and I are totally different.

“Say, Riku, if you ever went to another world, what would you do there?” This time it was Kairi asking him. She continued, “Are you like Sora, will you be satisfied with just seeing it?”

“To tell you the truth, I haven’t really thought about it. I just — I want to know why I, why we, ended up here. If there is another world out there, then why did we have to end up here?” Riku’s words overlap with the sound of the waves. “If there is another world out there, then here…”

Riku started to slowly speak. I think he was choosing his words carefully. “This place, it’s like it’s a fragment of a bigger world. And if it is a fragment, then it doesn’t matter if we’re here on this fragment or another one right?”

“I don’t get it.”

Listening to everything that’s been said so far, I don’t understand a lick of it. I flop down on the tree branch, looking upward.

“That’s just it.” Riku slowly starts walking. “Even if we just sit here, staring, we won’t know anything. Unless we do something, nothing will change. It’ll just be the same old scenery. That’s why we’re doing something.”

Kairi looks up at the sky. I continue to lay there, looking out at the sea. It’s just as Riku said. Though the sunset was beautiful every day, it really never changed. And while there was the occasional stormy night, since the sky and the sea remain unchanged, I wanted to see a different world.

“— Riku, you really do think about a lot of stuff, don’t you?” Kairi said quietly.

“It’s all thanks to you, Kairi.” Riku turns to her. “Kairi, I think, if you had never come to these islands, then I never would have thought of any of this. Thank you.”

“Ahh, you flatter me.”

Kairi laughs. I look at the two of them. We’ll always be like this - shinning bright under the setting sun. Yeah, everything would always be the same - unchanging.

It was in that spot that our journey started. We didn’t want to be 'here’ anymore, we wanted to travel anywhere, to soon be off the islands and on a journey. But, I felt the end of our journey would undoubtedly be in this spot too.

And so — our journey begins.

Translator's Notes:

Since this is a retelling of the opening scene in KH1, I didn’t want to just reuse the translations from the EN version of the game. I wanted to do my own take on it.

Also, when it comes to the use of “world,” singular, rather than plural…that has to do with the inner dialogue. Sora’s inner dialogue here let’s me know that he (and likely Riku and Kairi) are both thinking more in singular terms rather than plural. Though plural can work here (as we see with the the EN version of the game), but now that we have Sora’s thoughts on the matters, it feels to me that the singular is more fitting and what is likely intended.

I chose to translate カケラ (kakera) as “fragment” instead of “piece” or “part,” because I felt like it is a nice way to tie in with “fragmentary passage.”

Kairi’s “you flatter me” line, I went with that because I feel it conveys the Japanese best. In the Japanese Kairi uses the word 照れる (tereru). This means “to feel shy, uncomfortable, embarrassed.” So Kairi was likely feeling all three of these things due to what Riku said, and reading between the lines a bit, it’s pretty obvious that Kairi didn’t really do anything for Riku to thank her for. She just kinda showed up. So I went with “you flatter me,” because it is a polite way to express to someone that what they are saying, the compliment they gave you, is too much (but you still appreciate the sentiment).

The part that I have translated as “shinning bright under the setting sun” is actually more like “illuminated by the setting sun” in the Japanese.

Lastly, for the line “But I felt the end of our journey would undoubtedly be in this spot too” no pronouns are actually give. It could be we, but the use of 気がする
(ki ga suru) gives off the sense of “I feel/sense/etc.” not “we.” This being said, the end of the journey that Sora is talking about could be his own as well. Though, I’m going to stick with “our journey” instead of “my journey.”

The translations for Kairi's Story from keijithekit are below.

Quote

Kairi's Story
"Wherever You Are"

"Thinking of you, wherever you are..."

It was the time I had forgotten about you that I started writing---

I wrote the letter that began that way back when I had forgotten you. Well, I don’t know if “forgotten” is quite the right thing to call it, but you disappeared from within me - from within everybody.

“Do you remember the boys who used to hangout with us?” I asked Selphie, who titled her head and responded with Riku’s name.

I didn’t remember you. But you were still there, somewhere within me.

I placed the letter in a small bottle.

“What’s that?” Selphie asked as I threw the bottle into the ocean.

“A letter….I wrote it yesterday, to the boy I can’t remember. I said that no matter where he is...I’ll find him. One day. And when I stopped writing, I remembered we made a promise, something important. This letter is where it starts. I know it.” I answered and I stared out where the bottle was floating between the waves.

That’s when I remembered your name.

Starts with an “S”. Right, Sora?

Some time had passed since then, but I continued to write letter that would never reach you, Sora.

Then I was on the hill of the Secret Forest where you could see the twilight sky, and Lea - Axel - was sitting next to me. You were in the middle of a long journey again, and I was training to fight with you. Perhaps dazzled by the sight of the setting sun. Axel’s eyes seemed a little wet.

“A letter?”

“Yup.” I said, and nodded at Axel.

I was writing letters daily.

“To Sora?”

“Mmm, technically yes. But I won’t send it. It’s more for me.”

I remembered that letter I sent you back when I had forgotten you.

I didn’t want to forget you again, and the feeling I got when you became a Heartless...I never, ever wanted to feel that way again.

“This time, I’ll protect you.”

I hugged you, who had become a Heartless, close to me. Other Heartless gathered all around us to attack. But then, there was a light, the Heartless disappeared with it, and you came back.

“Kairi, thank you!” you said.

Oh, then we ran off together, right?

And then we made a promise.

“I’m always with you, too. I’ll come back to you. I promise!”

“I know you will!”

But after we made that promise, we all forgot about you for a while.

All this time I’ve believed that I needed to help you this time. It’s been nothing but you saving me, so I can’t just sit here waiting for you.

When we were young, we drew on the walls of the secret place, didn’t we? You drew me, and I drew you. After you disappeared, I took a look at that drawing again. I learned you’d added a doodle of you bringing a paopu to my mouth.

“If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They’ll remain a part of each other’s lives no matter what.”

I remembered a lot of things as we sat together on the paopu tree on Destiny Islands and watched the sunset.

“Hey, why’s Riku all alone?”

“He said he needed time to himself. Let’s let him be.” I told Sora, who worried about Riku as he was off standing on the beach.

I took the paopu fruit in my hand and presented it in front of Sora’s mouth.

“Here!”

“Huh?”

Sora stared at me, startled. I handed him the other paopu fruit that I’d brought with me.

“Tomorrow’s fight will be our toughest yet. I want to be a part of your life no matter what. That’s all.”

Sora’s face suddenly turned serious, and he took the paopu fruit in my hand.

“Kairi, I’ll keep you safe.”

“Let me keep you safe.”

We ate the paopu fruit together.

This was a good luck charm, and a promise.

Sora, you’ve protected me, but I wonder if I was also able to protect you.

So, Sora, please don’t give up.

Please don’t disappear

After all, Sora, you’re everybody’s hope

It’s a promise.